Eliot Neighborhood Association

Board Meeting Minutes (submitted by Jennifer Wilcox)

Chairs: Jimmy Wilson & Allan Rudwick

Monday, January 25, 2021

Present:

Allan Rudwick

Jimmy Wilson

Jennifer Wilcox

Sue Stringer

Shireen Hasan

Patricia Montgomery

Johnny Engleheart

Others Present

Julie Doumbia

Sebastian Couper sebastiancg503@protonmail.com

John Barker

Stephanie Shorin

Elliot Armstrong

Meeting began 7:01

Welcome & Introductions

Gladys McCoy Memorial Garden: John Barker of the Hardy Plant Society

Gladys McCoy, 1928 -1993, was the first African American elected to public office in Oregon:  the Portland School Board and then Multnomah County Commission.  The garden, located on NE MLK & Knott across from the Nike Outlet store, was created in her honor by her good friend Venerable Booker on vacant land next to the American State Bank, the first African American owned bank in the Pacific NW which he founded.   The garden has been weeded and cleaned up over the summer.  John is asking the Hardy Plant Society to support the garden and will probably ask Nike for support as well.  John shared a drawing of proposed update. They are not asking for money from the board.  Many suggestions were made of connections that could help with the watering and the garden.

 Allan moved to write a letter of support for the renovations, Sue seconded, passed unanimously

Adjust signers on bank account

Sue moved that we remove Pat Montgomery, Jim Hlava and Jerre Fitterman as signers on the Eliot Neighborhood Association account, add Allan Rudwick and Jimmy Wilson, and have Sue Stringer remain as the current signers.  It was also suggested that we add Allan and Jimmy to have access to the on-line account.  Jennifer seconded, passed unanimously.

Board Members:

Sue moved for the record the board members for the 2021 board are:

Allan Rudwick

Jimmy Wilson

Jennifer Wilson

Sue Stringer

Pat Montgomery

Shireen Hassan

Johnny Engleheart-Noel

Harrison Osbourn

Jennifer seconded.  Passed unanimously

Clean Air letters

Allan moved we sign the letters that had been previously circulated, Johnny seconded, passed unanimously

Committee Updates:

Treasurer Update: Sue had previously sent out the report.  Allan asked about the costs and asked Sue to look into some details.  

Balance January 1, 2020: 9,467.35

Expenses in 2020: 3,255.41

Balance December 31, 2020 6,211.94

We received $500 from NECN for communications.

Have a request for Adopt a Block to purchase four $100 gift cards to New Seasons.  Sue moved we approve this expense. Pat seconded.  Passed unanimously.   Patricia will be reaching out to the Blazers to work on getting income.  Discussed other ways of increasing income.  

Stanton Street/Dawson Park

Emanuel has put up a chain link fence just south of Dawson Park where cars have been parked on the grass.  Seems like there is some movement happening.   Should we ask for barriers so cars cannot drive in the park? The Boxing Club is going to continue to use the park for their training until they can go back to Dishman. 

Jimmy will have a meeting with NECN in the next few months.  Jimmy has been attending a lot of meetings to address the Dawson Park situation.  Patricia attended the meeting with Pastor Hennesy IPAC to make a change.  He will come and give us updates as soon as he can.  Pat will survey people in the park when the weather gets better.   

Land Use

Did not meet in January but did meet in December.  Allan has started a project of trying to get some land back to the community that is not being used by PBOT.  The next step is to talk to the City about a planning grant. Looking at under-utilized land in the neighborhood.  Could it be utilized to keep the promises made when the Emanuel expansion happened. 

Public Comment: None

Approve November minutes:  Sue moved we accept the minutes. Johnny seconded.  Motion passed unanimously.